The present disclosure relates to a cleaning apparatus designed to clean a wide array of computer peripheral devices, e.g., printers, smart card readers, magnetic readers and the like. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a universal cleaning card-like apparatus which has a dual cleaning function: 1) to clean and polish the rollers and reading, writing or scan heads (hereinafter xe2x80x9cr/w/s headsxe2x80x9d) of printers, facsimile machines, copiers, photo and optic sensors, chips, internal optics, smart card readers, smart chips, bar code encoders and decoders, magnetic readers, scanners and/or the like; and 2) to remove lint, dust, paper dust, magnetic oxides, contaminants and/or other residue from the r/w/s heads, feed or follower rollers/bars disposed along the paper (or r/w/s head path).
Heretofore, an alcohol-based solution, e.g., isopropyl alcohol, has been used with some success to clean the heads of the above-mentioned or similar such devices. However, it is known that alcohol-based solutions can detrimentally effect the life of the more sensitive, internal working components of these devices, e.g., repeated cleaning with an alcohol-based solutions can effect the elasticity of the feed or follower rollers/bars and/or r/w/s heads. Moreover, It is also known that bulk shipping alcohol-based solutions can often be difficult and may require special permits and/or less than efficient shipping methods due certain countries classifying alcohol-based solutions as hazardous or unsafe substances.
Other known cleaning devices employ abrasives on one or both sides of the cleaning sheet to remove contaminants. However, it is known that these abrasives may cause unnecessary wear of the feed or follower rollers and/or the r/w/s heads.
Thus, there exists a need for a new, simple, yet effective, cleaning apparatus and method according to same for both cleaning the roller and heads of certain electronic equipment and removing excess residue from the rollers and heads without compromising the integrity of the internal working components of the equipment.
The present disclosure relates to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning and decontaminating the internal working components of a piece of electronic equipment along a predetermined media path and includes a base material having first and second surfaces. The cleaning apparatus also includes a cleaning substrate disposed on the first surface for cleaning at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment and an adhesive substrate disposed on one of the first and second surfaces for decontaminating at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the base material is a lapping film. In a separate embodiment, the cleaning substrate is selected from the group consisting of: aluminum oxide, calcined alumina, cerium oxide, chromium oxide, diamond, ferrous oxide, silicon carbide, silicon dioxide and cubic boron nitrate minerals.
In yet another separate embodiment of the present disclosure, the cleaning substrate and the adhesive substrate are disposed on the first surface. In some cases it may be preferable to include the cleaning substrate and the adhesive substrate on the first surface in sections in an alternating manner.
Advantageously, the base material is semi-compliant and is dimensioned in the shape of a data-carrying card. However, the base material can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and sizes for utilization with different electronic devices.
In one embodiment, the adhesive substrate includes a first adhesive for adhering to one of the surfaces of the base material and a second adhesive for decontaminating the internal working components of the electronic equipment as the cleaning apparatus moves along the predetermined media path. In some cases, however, it may be preferable to thermally incorporate the adhesive material onto one of the surfaces of the base material.
Preferably, the adhesive substrate can be any known adhesive, e.g., chemical adhesive (i.e., latex, acrylic, resin, silicone, neoprene and urethane) pressure sensitive adhesives, contact adhesives, aerosol adhesives, epoxies, solvent-based adhesives, water-based adhesives, curing adhesives, cyanoacrylate adhesives, heat-activated and heat re-activated adhesives and/or cohesive adhesives.
The present disclosure also relates to a method for cleaning and decontaminating the internal working components of a piece of electronic equipment along a predetermined media path. The method includes the steps of:
1) providing a base material having first and second surfaces, the base material having a cleaning substrate disposed on the first surface and an adhesive substrate disposed on the second surface;
2) inserting the base material into the electronic equipment along the predetermined media path; and
3) moving the base material through the predetermined media path such that the cleaning substrate cleans and polishes at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment and the adhesive substrate decontaminates at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment.
The method may also include the steps of:
4) removing the base material from the electronic equipment;
5) reorienting the base material such that the other of the first and second surfaces is oriented to contact at least one additional internal working component of the electronic equipment; and
6) moving the base material through the predetermined media path such that one of the cleaning substrate and the adhesive substrate contacts the at least one additional internal working component of the electronic equipment.
In another method according to the present disclosure, one of the first surface and second surfaces of the base material of the providing step includes both a cleaning substrate and an adhesive substrate thereby eliminating the need to implement steps (4) through (6) above.
In another embodiment, the cleaning apparatus includes a base material having first and second surfaces and a cleaning substrate disposed on the first surface for cleaning at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment. The base material also includes a first adhesive substrate disposed on the first surface for decontaminating at least one internal working component of the electronic equipment and a second adhesive substrate disposed on the second surface for adhering the base material to a roll of stock used with the electronic equipment.
Preferably, a plurality of base material is adhered to the stock at varying locations.